Waze CEO reacts to Apple Maps
Waze CEO Noam Bardin told the audience at AllThingsD's D:Dive Into Mobile conference that he expected Apple Maps to be mediocre, but he was surprised by the vehement consumer backlash to the product.
"We assumed Apple's Maps product wouldn't be that good, but we thought it would be good enough for consumers," he said. "What surprised us was that it came out and consumers were upset." It reinforced to him that apps have a minimum standard of quality that people expect. If you don't meet that standard, then customers are going to respond negatively.
Bardin also said that Apple Maps, in his opinion, is improving, but the Cupertino company is limited by the quality and quantity of data provided by GPS partners like TomTom. Waze has an advantage over its competitors because the crowdsource nature of its service allows it to constantly update and validate its maps.
